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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What property of both black holes and elementary particles is still unknown?

2. What prevents the potentially dangerous effects of an exposed tear in space-time?

3. In ratios of what number do winding energies come?

4. How does the shape of the extra "curled up" dimensions affect the vibration of strings?

5. Which one of the following do physicists believe occurs at the central point of a black hole?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the nature and importance of the procedure discovered by Yau and Tian.

2. What is the horizon problem in cosmology? How was it resolved?

3. Are the extra-dimensions demanded by string theory, space or time dimensions? How are those dimensions experienced in everyday life?

4. Describe Kaluza-Klein theory.

5. Why are superparticles important to string theory, and how has research into these particles affected the field of string theory?

6. What is a wormhole, and how is it formed?

7. What is the origin of M-theory, and what are its basic characteristics?

8. What is the major problem preventing string theory from gaining widespread acceptance, and why does this problem persist?

9. What did Morrison and Greene discover together, and why is it important?

10. How is the shape of the Calabi-Yau space is determined?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Strung Along

String theory is one of the most important physical theories of this century, and it has a mottled and unusual history. String theory has progressed in fits and starts since its strange inception, experiencing periods of boom and bust, but always moving forward. Part 1) Describe the early history of string theory, beginning with the accidental discovery by Gabriele Veneziano, up through the work of Schwarz and Scherk.

Part 2) Detail the history of the first and second "superstring revolutions". What set off these periods of intense study, what was achieved, and how did they end?

Part 3) Speculate why string theory has suffered periodic declines in the physics community. Use evidence from the book, or outside research to support your claims.

Essay Topic 2

The Calabi-Yau Space

The shape of the extra dimensions in our world turns out to be critical to the properties and physical laws that we observe every day. The particular shape of these spaces has been determined to be a Calabi-Yau shape, a class of exotic multi-dimensional shapes.

Part 1) Describe the importance of the shape of the extra dimensions. Why is this importance only relevant to string theory? What would the effects be if these shapes were different?

Part 2) Use descriptions from the book to explain the nature of Calabi-Yau spaces. What unusual characteristics do they have? What would it be like to move through such a space?

Part 3) Explain some of the work that has been done to relate the shape of the Calabi-Yau space to properties of particles in our universe. How is the shape of the Calabi-Yau space studied and improved? What are some shortcomings of this method?

Essay Topic 3

Into the Unknowns

In the final chapter of the book, the author calls the readers attention to the major problems remaining in string theory, as well as to its most promising achievements. Confirmation of string theory is still far away, but the theory is so elegant and has so much potential that it cannot and should not be let go. This essay is about a final assessment of string theory's status and overall worth.

Part 1) Discuss the major shortcoming of string theory, especially the problems with experimental confirmation. Include a discussion of the perturbation method and its validity.

Part 2) Explain string theory's most important assets, including its incredible descriptive power, and its ability to unite quantum mechanics and general relativity. Be sure to discuss the promising new progress that Greene outlines in the later chapters.

Part 3) Using all of the information presented in the book, assess string theories status. How stable is its foundation? Is it likely to be the final theory of everything?

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